Effect of Mangrove Ecosystems on Coastal Ecology and Climate Change

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 4229

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
Interests: blue carbon; coastal ecosystem protection; remote sensing monitoring; climate change; ecological modeling
Department of Marine Science, Ocean College, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan 316000, China
Interests: spatiotemporal data analysis; remote sensing; spatiotemporal geostatistics; artificial intelligence; blue carbon
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China
Interests: sustainable ocean/coastal development; marine ecology; spatiotemporal modeling; environmental pollution; risk assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mangrove forests are highly productive and biologically significant ecosystems that provide a wide range of goods and services to society. Compared with other ecosystems, mangrove ecosystems have a much higher capacity for carbon sequestration and storage. Climate change, primarily driven by human activities, is occurring globally and poses significant threats to both humans and natural ecosystems. The carbon captured by mangrove ecosystems can help mitigate anthropocentric CO2 emissions, making them crucial in addressing climate change and achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, widespread deforestation and degradation have severely impacted mangroves. Since the 1980s, around 50% of the world’s mangrove forests have been lost, putting them at great risk.  Therefore, urgent action is needed to protect and restore mangroves globally. This Special Issue aims to explore the impacts of mangrove ecosystems on coastal ecology and climate change, providing scientific support for conservation efforts and the future development of coastal areas.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Monitoring of mangrove ecosystems;
  • Ecological values associated with mangrove ecosystems;
  • Conservation strategies for mangrove ecosystems;
  • Assessing the role of mangroves in blue carbon;
  • Understanding the significance of mangroves in coastal zones;
  • Examining the contribution of mangroves to climate change;
  • Future management for coastal ecosystems.

Dr. Yuhan Zheng
Dr. Junyu He
Dr. Qutu Jiang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • mangrove conservation
  • ecological value
  • blue carbon
  • remote sensing
  • sustainable development
  • spatiotemporal modeling

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 11649 KiB  
Article
Impact of Conservation in the Futian Mangrove National Nature Reserve on Water Quality in the Last Twenty Years
by Jin Luo, Qiming Huang, Hongsheng Zhang, Yanhua Xu, Xiaofang Zu and Bin Song
Forests 2024, 15(7), 1246; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15071246 - 17 Jul 2024
Viewed by 893
Abstract
Mangroves play a crucial role in improving the water quality of mangrove wetlands. However, current research faces challenges, such as the difficulty in quantifying the impact of mangroves on water quality and the unclear pathways of influence. This study utilized remote sensing imagery [...] Read more.
Mangroves play a crucial role in improving the water quality of mangrove wetlands. However, current research faces challenges, such as the difficulty in quantifying the impact of mangroves on water quality and the unclear pathways of influence. This study utilized remote sensing imagery to investigate the long-term changes in mangrove forests in the Futian Mangrove National Nature Reserve and constructed a water quality index based on water quality data. Finally, structural equation modeling was employed to explore the pathways of influence and quantify the impact effects of mangroves, climate, and water quality. The study findings revealed several key points: (1) The mangrove forests in the Futian Mangrove National Nature Reserve exhibited a trend of expansion towards the ocean during this period. (2) The seasonal and annual characteristics of water quality in Shenzhen Bay indicated a significant improvement in water quality from 2000 to 2020. (3) Mangroves have significant direct and indirect impacts on water quality, which are more pronounced than the effects of climate factors. These findings not only offer insights for the environmental management and conservation of Shenzhen Bay but also provide support for future comprehensive studies on the response relationships between the morphology, species, and physiological characteristics of mangroves and water quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Mangrove Ecosystems on Coastal Ecology and Climate Change)
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18 pages, 3419 KiB  
Article
Geoforms and Biogeography Defining Mangrove Primary Productivity: A Meta-Analysis for the American Pacific
by Carolina Velázquez-Pérez, Emilio I. Romero-Berny, Clara Luz Miceli-Méndez, Patricia Moreno-Casasola and Sergio López
Forests 2024, 15(7), 1215; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15071215 - 12 Jul 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1500
Abstract
We present a meta-analysis of mangrove litterfall across 58 sites in the American Pacific, exploring its variability among geoforms, ecoregions, and provinces. This study contributes to filling the information gap on litter-based primary productivity in American mangroves at the ecoregional level and directly [...] Read more.
We present a meta-analysis of mangrove litterfall across 58 sites in the American Pacific, exploring its variability among geoforms, ecoregions, and provinces. This study contributes to filling the information gap on litter-based primary productivity in American mangroves at the ecoregional level and directly examines the effects of geomorphological and biogeographic factors on mangrove productivity. The objective was to evaluate how geoform, ecoregion, and province factors, along with eight environmental variables, influence litterfall-based primary productivity. Each site was categorized according to its landform through the analysis of satellite images obtained from various sensors on the Google Earth Pro v. 7.3.6 platform. Additionally, it was categorized according to its ecoregion and province by analyzing the occurrence of the sites on biogeographic unit coverage in ArcMap 10.4.1. We then analyzed the effect of each factor and the efficiency of categorization using multivariate methods. Our results showed significant differences in litterfall among the geoforms, with estuaries exhibiting higher litterfall production (11.90 Mg ha−1 year−1) compared to lagoons (7.49 ± 4.13 Mg ha−1 year−1). Differences were also observed among provinces, with the highest average in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (11.19 ± 3.63 Mg ha−1 year−1) and the lowest in the Warm Temperate Northeast Pacific (7.34 ± 4.28 Mg ha−1 year−1). Allocation success analyses indicated that sites classified by dominant species and province were more predictable (>60.34%) for litterfall production. Additionally, the maximum temperature and the precipitation of the wettest month and the driest month explained 34.13% of the variability in mangrove litter-based primary productivity. We conclude that mangrove litterfall production is influenced by coastal geomorphic characteristics and biogeography, which are, in turn, affected by latitude-induced climate variation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Mangrove Ecosystems on Coastal Ecology and Climate Change)
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16 pages, 3971 KiB  
Article
Population Status of the Endangered Semi-Mangrove Dolichandrone spathacea on Hainan Island, China
by Mi Tian, Xinran Ke, Ming Li, Kaixuan Deng, Yong Yang, Zanshan Fang, Cairong Zhong, Shen Li, Zhengjie Zhu, Nora Fung-Yee Tam, Tao Lang and Haichao Zhou
Forests 2024, 15(5), 865; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15050865 - 15 May 2024
Viewed by 1044
Abstract
In China, Dolichandrone spathacea is a rare and endangered semi-mangrove plant species with an extremely small population, naturally distributed only in Zhanjiang City and the east coast of Hainan Island. Despite conservation concerns, the population status of D. spathacea has received little scientific attention. In [...] Read more.
In China, Dolichandrone spathacea is a rare and endangered semi-mangrove plant species with an extremely small population, naturally distributed only in Zhanjiang City and the east coast of Hainan Island. Despite conservation concerns, the population status of D. spathacea has received little scientific attention. In this study, we evaluated the current status of D. spathacea on Hainan Island, China, in order to propose sustainable conservation strategies for future ecological restoration of its natural population. D. spathacea on Hainan Island can be divided into four populations. All the D. spathacea populations present a state of overall dispersion, local concentration, and occasionally sporadic existence, and they exist in geographical isolation. The young, middle, and old D. spathacea plants account for 20.42%, 66.20%, and 13.38%, respectively, indicating that the D. spathacea population on Hainan Island is declining. Furthermore, instead of temporal structure, we used diameter at breast height (DBH) to establish a static life table, draw a population survival curve, and quantify the future development trend through population dynamic analysis and time-series prediction. These results suggest that the D. spathacea population in the Bamen Gulf (Wenchang) and Qingmei Harbor (Sanya) on Hainan Island is sensitive to external disturbances and possesses two main increases in mortality rate—namely, in its juvenile and mature stages—due to competition and anthropogenic interferences, which might be the most important reasons for its endangered status. Depending on the current conditions of the D. spathacea population, we should conserve and expand mature trees in situ, preserve their germplasm resources, rehabilitate their habitats to promote provenance restoration, and conduct artificial cultivation and spreading planting in order to realize the sustainable conservation and management of D. spathacea. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effect of Mangrove Ecosystems on Coastal Ecology and Climate Change)
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